September 2015: Publication Senshi Sōsho volume

The Corts Foundation has concluded her first Senshi Sōsho project on September 21st with a publication in print and in Open Access by Leiden University Press of "The invasion of the Dutch East Indies".

This translation from the Japanese language covers the capture of the Dutch East Indies, resulting in the capitulation of the KNIL (the Royal Netherlands Indies Army) on Java. The translation is done by Dr. Willem Remmelink with a team of Japanese historians. On September 21st the first copy of the book was presented by the president of The Corts Foundation mr. Egbert Jacobs to the Dean of the Humanities Faculty of the University of Leiden Prof.dr. Wim van den Doel, in the presence of the Japanese Ambassador and other representatives from Japan, Indonesia and the Netherlands.

Between 1966 and 1980, the War History Office of the National Defence College of Japan (now the Centre for Military History of the National Institute for Defence Studies) published the 102-volume Senshi Sōsho (War History Series). These volumes give a detailed account of the operations of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. Volume 3 of the series, The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies, describes in depth the campaign to gain control over the Indonesian archipelago – at that time the largest transoceanic landing operation in the military history of the world. The present book is the first complete and unabridged translation of a volume from the comprehensive Senshi Sōsho series. It enables military historians and the general public to see and study for the first time how the operation that put an end to Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia was planned and executed.

The full text of the lecture by Dr. Petra Groen during the official book presentation on September 21st, 2015 is available here:

See also the published news item and comments on the Dutch website of Javapost

The Corts Foundation

is a Dutch non profit organization that uses the legacy of Kees Corts to perform history and archive projects concerning the former Dutch Indies, especially the period of the Dutch East India company, and end of the colonial period during World War II.